Do Football Greats Make Good Coaches?

Zinedine Zidane will not find it easy to repeat the success he enjoyed as a player as he becomes a coach at the top level for the first time with Real Madrid.

Plenty all-time greats on the field have tried their luck in the dugout, with varying degrees of success. AFP Sport takes a look at some of those who have made the transition:

Diego Maradona

- The greatest player of his generation, and to many the greatest of them all, Maradona led Argentina to glory at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico to cap a glorious playing career in which he also turned out for Barcelona, Napoli and Boca Juniors. But his time in charge of his country was rather less successful as, after being drubbed 6-1 by Bolivia in qualifying, Argentina were knocked out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa in the quarter-finals, suffering a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Germany. He had previously been suspended for two months by FIFA for telling members of the media to "suck it and keep on sucking it" after Argentina had secured their place at the finals. Following his departure after the World Cup, he had a stint in charge of Al Wasl in the United Arab Emirates.

Johan Cruyff

- Nobody enjoyed such success as both a player and a coach as Cruyff, the man who defined the Dutch total football era of the 1970s. Cruyff captained the Dutch team that reached the World Cup final in 1974 and won three European Cups with Ajax as well as a league title with Barcelona. He also won the Ballon d'Or three times. As a coach, he had moderate success with Ajax before taking an underachieving Barcelona into the modern era, his 'Dream Team' winning four straight league titles and the first European Cup in the club's history. He retains a huge influence over those who run Ajax and Barcelona and Pep Guardiola is one of Cruyff's disciples, starring for him as a player before becoming a great coach in his own right.

Franz Beckenbauer

- Beckenbauer is one of just two men -- the other being Brazil's Mario Zagallo -- to win the World Cup as a player and a coach. He captained West Germany to victory against Cruyff's Netherlands at the 1974 World Cup and then coached his country to glory in Italy in 1990. He helped Bayern Munich win three successive European Cups in the 1970s but his record as a club coach left rather more to be desired. He did win a Bundesliga title with Bayern in 1994 and the UEFA Cup -- against Zidane's Bordeaux -- in 1996 but he is better remembered for his upstairs role at the Bavarian giants.

Michel Platini

- The disgraced Platini, currently serving an eight-year ban from all footballing activities because of a payment received from FIFA president Sepp Blatter during his time as UEFA chief, was one of the great players of his generation but is not so well remembered for his time as a coach. The Frenchman was the great European player of his generation, leading Les Bleus to glory at the 1984 European Championship and winning the European Cup with Juventus along with three Ballons d'Or. But as a coach he failed to take France to the 1990 World Cup and he quit after a disappointing showing at Euro 92 in Sweden.

Marco van Basten

- Another three-time Ballon d'Or winner, van Basten's playing career was glorious until it was cut short due to injury at the age of just 28. The former Ajax striker was part of the AC Milan team that dominated in Italy and Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s but the defining moment of his career was the stunning volleyed goal he produced in the Netherlands' 1988 European Championship final win against the Soviet Union. As coach of Holland, his side were knocked out of the 2006 World Cup in the last 16 and Euro 2008 at the quarter-final stage. Underwhelming spells with Ajax, Heerenveen and AZ Alkmaar followed before he stepped aside citing stress.

John Toshack had a none too shabby career as a player and a coach.
It's a pity Scottish football does not count as part of the game othetwise that chap Ferguson might get a mention.
Brian Clough had a great record as both a player and a coach. For some strange reason he never worked as a national coach.

Sadly players like Giggs who have only had one club and one dominant manager are likely to fail. Unless they are very intelligent their lack of club and management experience will probably be their downfall.

The former Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio and Rangers midfielder believes his appointment with the West Yorkshire side will not be a repeat of his previous management role, at Kettering. The owner, Imraan Ladak, sacked Gascoigne after 39 days, claiming he was drinking too much.
Gascoigne said: "It went really well there. The chairman tried to blame it on the drink but it was totally untrue. He stopped me coaching and he wanted to become manager."
The Garforth owner Simon Clifford said: "This is not a publicity stunt. When we signed Socrates and Careca, that was. Everyone says they love Paul but nobody does anything about it.
"I want him to be an inspiration to someone who might have depression or problems in their lives. He's walked through hell but he has kept on walking."

There was something I read recently about why great sportsmen don't always make good coaches. Something to do with when you have natural talent in a particular discipline I t's difficult to understand that others may not be so gifted.

Whilst this wasn't the article I was looking for it's along similar lines:

Do former athletes make the best coaches?
Katharine Merry | 07:42 UK time, Thursday, 9 April 2009

Do those who have been successful playing sport at the highest level make the best coaches?

It's a question many football fans have been asking since Newcastle appointed Alan Shearer as manager.

We also discussed the matter/issue on BBC 5 Live's London Calling programme last month, particularly in relation to Charles van Commenee, the new head coach of UK Athletics who was forced to end his competitive career at the age of 18 because of injury.

Just because you are good at sport doesn't mean you will be good at teaching it. Yes, you can have a sound knowledge base from what you have learnt from your own coaches but, when it comes to being a successful coach, ex-athletes run the risk of flying by their reputation rather than the knowledge they have.

In football, you can't get a better example for both sides of this coin than the Charlton brothers. Bobby was the far better player, but failed at lower league coaching whereas Jack - arguably a weaker player - was a tremendous coach/manager.

Oddly, football clubs who bring in foreign managers - the likes of Arsenal and Arsene Wenger or Liverpool with Rafa Benitez - do so based on their coaching ability, while those who appoint home-grown managers - like Newcastle with Shearer - do it based on playing ability.

Athletics is peppered with former stars who have an input into athletes' careers, either as coaches or mentors. But the majority of athletes have coaches that never been stars themselves.

Michael Johnson and Donovan Bailey both achieved phenomenal success with coaches who were students of the sport but had never hit the heights themselves.

There is a difference between experience and knowledge. So what skills does a good coach need?

To me, good coaching is about helping athletes to understand themselves, where they want to be, and helping them to get there. This means having knowledge of the sport and good communication skills.

In my experience the best coaches were the ones who took the time to get to know me as an individual, learning about my strengths and weaknesses.

Athletes are by nature blinkered and focused on their own careers. Does this mean they will take what could be described as selfish attributes into coaching and only teach what they think is right?

Some of the best coaching seems to come from a combination of experience at the highest level of sport and experience from years of coaching.

Linford Christie was coached throughout his career by Ron Roddan, whose own sprinting career peaked with an appearance in a Middlesex county final in the 1960s.

With help from Ron, Linford coached me and Darren Campbell to Olympic medals and the combination of knowledge and experiences from both of them together was priceless.

Now Linford is coaching on his own, with Ron as a sounding board, using all that he has learnt from him over the years.

Another successful coaching duo is Lloyd Cowan and Christine Bloomfield, who work with Christine Ohuruogu. Both were international athletes in their day but clearly have a great blend together that helps their athletes be far more successful than either of their coaches ever was.

Should therefore any person wanting to come into coaching, regardless of there sporting achievements, be subject to a period of apprenticeship? I know Sport England and UKA are now really putting an emphasis on coaching education and development.

I do believe ex-athletes can make excellent coaches and make a valuable contribution to the development of coaching.

However sometimes too much of an assumption is made from having been there and done it. This doesn't automatically make an effective coach.

Any person that can add to the support system of an athlete to develop them into the best they can be is a good thing.

Let's just make sure we develop and support the backbone of sport in this country and never overlook coaching talent from non-elite athletes.

John Toshack had a none too shabby career as a player and a coach.
It's a pity Scottish football does not count as part of the game othetwise that chap Ferguson might get a mention.
Brian Clough had a great record as both a player and a coach. For some strange reason he never worked as a national coach.

The reason was that the establishment didn't like him and would not give him the job.

Zidane in flying start as Bale, Messi hit hat-tricks

Madrid (AFP) - Zinedine Zidane's reign as Real Madrid boss got off to a flying start as Gareth Bale scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 thrashing of Deportivo la Coruna on Saturday.

Victory took Madrid back to within two points of Barcelona after the European champions cruised to a 4-0 win over Granada earlier in the day courtesy of a hat-trick from Lionel Messi.

Zidane was given a hero's welcome after replacing the sacked Rafael Benitez earlier in the week and Madrid were rarely troubled after Karim Benzema gave the hosts the lead 15 minutes in.

Bale then took centre stage with his second hat-trick in four games before Benzema smashed home the fifth in stoppage time.

"Whenever you win you have to be happy," said Zidane. "What I liked most was the attitude shown by the team. It is not easy to score five goals against a team like Deportivo la Coruna."

Despite awful weather conditions in the Spanish capital, Madrid were cheered on by a noticeably more enthused fan base than in Benitez's ill-fated seven-month spell as Zidane's name was chanted even before kick-off.

Lucas Perez briefly threatened to spoil the party for Zidane when he was denied a 13th league goal of the season by a fine save from Keylor Navas.

Benzema then registered the first goal of the Zidane reign by flicking the ball home from close range despite strong claims from Deportivo that the Frenchman was offside.

Bale stooped to head home the second shortly after, and ended any hopes of a Deportivo fight back when he expertly slotted home Cristiano Ronaldo's low cross four minutes after the break.

The Welshman met Toni Kroos's corner with another towering header to complete his hat-trick before Benzema crashed home a loose ball off the underside of the bar to round off the scoring.

At the Camp Nou, Messi warmed up for his anticipated fifth World Player of the Year crown by scoring his first hat-trick of the season.

Messi is expected to beat off teammate Neymar and current holder Ronaldo to the Ballon d'Or on Monday after leading Barca to a second treble of La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey in six years last season.

And despite the fine form of Neymar and Luis Suarez in his two-month absence, Messi again demonstrated he is Barca's main man as Luis Enrique's men bounced back from drawing three of their last four La Liga games.

"He is a unique and unrepeatable player," said Enrique, who won't attend Monday's ceremony in Zurich despite being nominated himself for coach of the year.

"It is evident there is the collective objective that attracts him, motivates him and continues to motivate him year after year.

"Then there is the particular individual objective these type of players have to continue beating records and continue being the best."

Arda Turan made his first league start for the hosts after Barca's year-long ban from registering new players was lifted earlier in the week, and the Turkish international provided his first assist for the club with a lovely through ball for Messi to slot home after just eight minutes.

Barca's all-star front three combined to perfection six minutes later as Neymar's cross was helped first time by Suarez into the path of Messi to roll past the helpless Andres Fernandez.

Messi was on hand just before the hour mark to complete his hat-trick after Neymar's initial effort had come back off the post.

But Neymar finally got his goal seven minutes from time when Messi cleverly let Suarez's cross roll across the area knowing he was in an offside position and the Brazilian took his time before blasting the ball into the roof of the net for his 18th goal of the season.